DETROIT — Auto workers and car buyers are divided on the effect of President Donald Trump’s automotive tariffs. Some believe they will support Trump’s mission to bring more manufacturing to the U.S., even if they raise vehicle prices. Others are concerned about the impact broad tariffs will have on the economy and the industry.
Hundreds lined up at Macomb Community College in Warren, Mich., on April 29 ahead of a rally where Trump was expected to celebrate his first 100 days back in office.
The rally came on the heels of the announcement that Trump is giving automakers that build vehicles in the U.S. relief from part of his administration’s new tariff policy.
Support for the automotive tariffs was high among some current and former auto workers who attended the rally. Brian Pannebecker, a former Ford employee and founder of Auto Workers for Trump, said the president is using tariffs as a forceful tool to get foreign trading partners to come to the table.
“All they have to do is build their plant here in America, and then the tariffs are zero,” he said.
While the dealership buy/sell market commenced at a slower pace in the first quarter, and despite some uncertainty surrounding tariffs, strong profit and sales expectations are expected in 2025, fueling another highly active year for transactions. The report also features Kerrigan Advisors’ signature Blue Sky Multiples by franchise.
Read more: Live updates on tariff news and impacts
Interactive map: Auto manufacturing sites in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico
Trump has announced a series of tariffs that complicate the automotive supply chain and likely will increase costs for automakers, suppliers and eventually consumers. He has said the tariffs are intended to onshore manufacturing.
He imposed 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum, including automotive components made from the metals, on March 12. His administration added a 25 percent tariff April 3 on vehicle imports. His team had planned 25 percent tariffs on a wide range of automotive part imports, including engines, transmissions and powertrain components, by May 3.
Click here to see a list of parts subjected to the tariffs.
But Trump’s executive orders, released April 29, are designed to offset a portion of automakers’ tariff costs.
One order says Trump will allow partial reimbursement for components that make up 15 percent of the vehicle’s value for one year and 10 percent of the vehicle’s value for the second year. Vehicles are only eligible for the rebate if they are built in the U.S.
A separate order says vehicles and components will not be subject to additional tariffs, such as the 25 percent duty on steel and aluminum.
The rapid changes in tariff policy are part of negotiating, said Jimmy Suder, an automotive mechanic fabricator who attended the rally.
“You don’t negotiate without working back and forth,” Suder said.
Others were concerned that the large scale of the tariffs could have negative impacts on Americans. Lori Potter, who is retired, attended the rally to protest the president and believes his tariff policy is too chaotic.
“It is not a foreign plan, it is a whim,” she said.
Because the policies change so frequently, it is hard to say how tariffs will impact the economy and car prices, Potter said.
Nate Weinberg, an assembly worker at General Motors’ Factory Zero plant in Michigan, said the president should be strategically placing tariffs and not applying them wholesale across the industry.
“You cannot just do a blanket tariff,” Weinberg said. “Or else you will have disastrous effects on the economy.”
Weinberg and about 200 other employees at the plant are getting laid off, as GM adjusts production.
The U.S. needs to strengthen domestic manufacturing, but tariffs are not the way to go about it, Weinberg said.
“The Big 3 [automakers] should be incentivized to bring jobs back, not strong-armed into bringing jobs back,” he said. “Because you can’t build a factory in a day.”
Fears for how Trump’s tariffs will affect car prices
Before the tariffs, the auto retail market was already facing an affordability crisis with high new-vehicle prices, monthly auto loan payments and average interest rates combining to strain the average American car buyer, experts say.
Analysts have warned that Trump’s auto tariffs could raise new-vehicle prices by thousands of dollars if automakers pass on added costs to consumers.
“They are already expensive. I can’t even afford one,” said rally attendee Robert Cowper, a postal worker in Michigan, who said he drives a 19-year-old car.
Tariffs also could affect the cost of vehicle parts and repairs, Weinberg said.
“If you need to go to get your car fixed, they are going to go up in price,” he said.
Barry Altman, another rally attendee, hopes in the long run that Trump’s tariff policy will bring the price of vehicles down.
“This first bit of red ink is just a growing pain,” he said, “but the long-term effect is best.”
In the meantime, if car buyers want to get a vehicle from a company outside the U.S., they will have to pay extra for it, Cowper said.
“Do we want to buy American, or do we want to buy foreign? I want to buy American,” he said.
